Consumer Watchdog is a (fiercely) independent consumer rights and advocacy organisation campaigning on behalf of the consumers of Botswana, helping them to know their rights and to stand up against abuse. Contact us at watchdog@bes.bw, call us on +267 3904582 or find us on Facebook by searching for Consumer Watchdog Botswana. Everything we do for the consumers of Botswana has always been and always will be entirely free.

Sunday, 2 January 2011

World Business Guide - victim's comments

These are just some of the comments we've had from victims of the World Business Guide scam. I emailed over 300 victims on Christmas Eve asking for their experiences. Can you spot the pattern? It's a scam!

“Yes, I was conned into signing as I thought it was free. Six months later I received a bill, which I refused to pay. I then received a letter from a so-called lawyer in the post. I refused to pay.”

“I tracked them down to an office in Amsterdam. As I travel to Belgium frequently, I offered to meet them, together with my European attorney's, at their offices in Amsterdam in order to sort out this issue. They declined to meet. I then resorted to "bully" tactics and told them that if I receive one more payment demand from them, I will report their fraudulent activities to the Dutch police and Interpol. I have not heard a word from them since.”

“I yes I was duped into signing up thinking it was free. I Googled them and found out I was not alone. The advise given was to write to them and explain that it was an error as I had thought it was a free listing and then ignore any further correspondence from them, which is what I have done.”

“This is a most unscrupulous company! … I’m sure lots of people get caught and actually feel pressured into paying. I would love to see this scam dealt with.”

“Indeed I was misled as well.”

“Yes, this company has caught us and have been hounding us for two years, even putting us in the directory a second year. … We let them know that this type of strategy constitutes a scam and we will definitely not pay over anything to them.”

“I mistakenly thought that this was an update to a guide I had previously placed information on some years before. … I have not paid any of the invoices presented, and certainly will not do so willingly. … My view is that the form requesting "updated details" was a misrepresentation of the actual purpose of the request, which was of course hidden in fine print.”

“You are quite right in your assumptions about World Business Guide they are unethical in their business relationship. … I and many others in South Africa have not paid their Invoice despite numerous threats of legal action. Advise your customers not to pay and ignore all their persuasive threats of legal action”

“Yes, you are correct, our information was placed there deceptively and they have on numerous occasions threatened us with legal action.”

“I was caught in this trap but have refused to pay and told them to remove my company from their listing. Last year they telephoned me and have sent me letters of demand from a collection agency. I have told them I will not pay the account and will see them in court and that I do not believe that any court will uphold their claim based on a deliberately miss-leading document. This year they have again invoiced me but I tear up all correspondence from them and delete all email without opening them. I don't believe they will bring anything to court as that would mean exposing themselves.”

“Yes, we responded to the ad as it was stated that insertion or updating was free. We were then invoiced for over 1000 euro’s. We asked to be removed from this guide as soon as we discovered that were being charged. We have been fighting with them ever since, we have refused to pay.”

“You are 100% right. They keep on harassing us for payment, but we haven’t paid for our first 2 years of placement as we were not aware how much it costs. In the beginning, I even called them to take our details out of the WBG, but they never reply, they just keep on threatening us.”

“I confirm that I too have been deceived and they continuously harass me for money. This after I wrote to them on several occasions and explained their deceptive advertising and my understanding that the registration was for free.”

“I was also enticed to place a free listing at WBG. Since then I’ve been getting bills and threats of action if I don’t pay the ridiculous amount, the details I have at the office. They also sent me a CD. I’ve not paid anything yet.”

“I have put it in the unfair trading drawer and communicated a few things back to them but then I ignored their ridicules requests and fake lawyer letters. The silly thing is that they renewed it in the 2nd year and ask for another Euro 995.”

“Just checking out your blog makes my blood boil once again. To say that we have been deceived is putting it mildly. These people are not only a bunch of crooks, they need to be stopped in one way or the other and if I can somehow play a role in stopping them, I would be very happy. Anyway, I hope they take it further so I can take on these faceless crooks.”

“We were conned into thinking we were helping them and not placing an advert for a huge sum of money.”

“I’m glad you are investigating this “company” as I have definitely had an attempt by them to deceptively receive money from me. I received an application form from them asking if I would like to have my business listed on their directory, as this application made no reference to payment, I listed my company details and sent it back to them. I then received numerous emails from them asking for payment (I seem to remember it being about 1,000 euro). When payment was not made, I received threats of legal action, to which I did not respond.”

“This event occurred through a process which can only be described as ambush marketing. When they invoiced us and we objected, they stated that we had signed a valid agreement. When I stated that we would never have entered into an agreement had we been honestly informed as to the costs. They said too late, it is in black and white. When I said please cancel our listing, they said that, in terms of the agreement, we had signed for a minimum of 3 years and are “bound” by the agreement which we signed.”

“Their email requesting you to advertise your company is misleading it clearly states free advertisement I was under the impression that it was for free that is why I responded to them to place my company details on the CD only to get an acc with it. I immediately started to send threatening mails detailing penalties if we did not pay within a certain dead lines. Incidentally the CD they sent me was blank. They are now threatening to take legal action if I miss the next payment details, I have spoken to our legal dept and they feel that the mail shot is misleading and that we will have a strong case if it were to go to court. I believe that there modus operandi is to get you to agree to place the advertisement with them and then harass you with threatening emails to the extent that a person would be are intimidated and then pay.”

“They give me a heart attack one day, they e-mail, phone, send faxes and even threaten with legal actions. Yes it is true, they hide the costs or they even fake the contract and they ignore if you cancel. I got contacted by an attorney from cape town, they found us in this directory and wanted to know our experience, because they got also complaints.”

1 comment:

Anonymous
said...

I have figured this scamming company out in only a few short weeks, try to search yourself on their website...can't find yourself? well heres why; I start a website, I compile all the info under a muse of connecting business's, only I don't, Its just a website. I searched using 5 keywords, state im located in etc...nothing. Its JUST a website. complete bullshit. Dont pay just IGNORE, and don't worry. These people are debt BS collectors using this website as a decoy.

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We support consumers in Botswana, educating them on their rights, helping them to fix problems and exposing scams. Email us at watchdog@bes.bw, or call on +267 3904582 or fax on +267 3911763. It's all free, you've nothing to lose!